Reconciling Work and Family in a 24/7 Economy? Gender and Class Inequalities in Trends and Patterns of Paid and Unpaid Work in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France

Despite the prevalence of nonstandard work schedules, schools and childcare facilities still operate during standard work hours. Yet, research on how parents coordinate their daily labor market and caregiving demands remains incomplete. To address this gap, this dissertation investigates how gender and class inequalities in work-family arrangements unfold in the organization of daily time. Three small-N studies combine sequence and cluster analyses with regression models on time use data to explore trends and patterns of paid and unpaid work in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. Study 1 traces how mothers’ and fathers’ daily time use patterns changed across social classes in historically conservative western Germany and formerly socialist eastern Germany between 1990 and 2013. Study 2 assesses class differences in mothers’ daily organization of paid and unpaid work, and how they are associated with domestic outsourcing in the United Kingdom (2015) and western Germany (2013). Study 3, co-authored with Jeanne Ganault, investigates how education, and the presence and age of children, shape gendered work schedule arrangements among different-sex couples in France (2010) and Germany (2013). The findings question class-centered theoretical approaches that conceptualize work schedules as a direct expression of labor market opportunities, as well as family-centered approaches arguing that nonstandard work schedules allow for a more gender-equal division of labor. Instead, they demonstrate the necessity of an intersectional perspective to understand how gender and class shape everyday work and family lives. Moreover, they highlight the importance of considering the interplay of social policies in structuring gender and class inequalities in parents’ daily time use.